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Pensioner pickets council about bins

A FED-UP pensioner staged a one-woman protest at a council office over the poor standard of her bin collections.

Helen Spencer was left irate after waste was left outside the sheltered housing where she lives in Chesham for weeks - meaning residents struggled to open the doors to their flats.

After numerous phone calls to Chiltern District Council failed to resolve the problem she decided to meet officials in person at their offices in Amersham.

The very next day the waste was collected from outside the flats in Bellingdon Road after a pile-up over the Christmas period.

Mrs Spencer said the problem had happened before, leading to council bosses admitting to having problems after the new waste collection service was brought in last year.

And she warned: "If they carry on collecting it I will be over the moon. If they don't, they will be hearing from me."

Mrs Spencer said: "We couldn't get in our door. I've got a friend who's a fireman and he said it was a fire risk.

"In the warmer weather it gets a bit smelly and fly-ridden. It's really not on. The aroma from the rubbish was floating round the abode.

"I thought, 'this is ridiculous'. I went up to the council office and said I wasn't going until I got this sorted. At nine in the morning the next day, every bit of our rubbish had been collected."

Her story was raised at Chiltern District Council's full council meeting on Tuesday by her ward councillor, Chris Spruytenburg.

He said: "It's quite sad that it's only from her jumping up and down they have turned round and done something."

The council's cabinet member for waste, Peter Martin, said at Tuesday's meeting: "We've had issues, I wouldn't pretend things have been going smoothly - we haven't tried to give people that impression. I don't believe we have major issues, we have one or two residents with problems."

He said the company responsible for collections, Serco, have now assigned three experienced officials to the team responsible for Chiltern in a bid to iron out the problems.

Cllr Martin said: "We want to make sure every one of our residents receive the quality of care they are entitled to."

Comments

Bartholomew HuckleBerry
1:25pm Fri 17 Jan 14

Is this not the point where all these councillors should be totally humiliated and ashamed of themselves. It takes a pensioner to persistently contact you to do your job that you are so well paid for and yet you refuse to do it and it takes for her to picket at your door. How can this be allowed to go on and the same people are still in their jobs? Non payment of council taxes involves a court summon for residents.... so when the council is not doing it job then where is the justice ???????????

Is this not the point where all these councillors should be totally humiliated and ashamed of themselves. It takes a pensioner to persistently contact you to do your job that you are so well paid for and yet you refuse to do it and it takes for her to picket at your door. How can this be allowed to go on and the same people are still in their jobs? Non payment of council taxes involves a court summon for residents.... so when the council is not doing it job then where is the justice ???????????Bartholomew HuckleBerry

Is this not the point where all these councillors should be totally humiliated and ashamed of themselves. It takes a pensioner to persistently contact you to do your job that you are so well paid for and yet you refuse to do it and it takes for her to picket at your door. How can this be allowed to go on and the same people are still in their jobs? Non payment of council taxes involves a court summon for residents.... so when the council is not doing it job then where is the justice ???????????

Score: 13

u r joking
3:04pm Fri 17 Jan 14

Serco are the most negative company the two councils could have picked wycombe had a good collection service prior to serco the workforce seems to be the same as it was before with veolia so what is the problem .the so called councillors involved should sort it out pronto

Serco are the most negative company the two councils could have picked wycombe had a good collection service prior to serco the workforce seems to be the same as it was before with veolia so what is the problem .the so called councillors involved should sort it out prontou r joking

Serco are the most negative company the two councils could have picked wycombe had a good collection service prior to serco the workforce seems to be the same as it was before with veolia so what is the problem .the so called councillors involved should sort it out pronto

Score: 7

pennperson
8:54pm Fri 17 Jan 14

The contract gives Serco a 12 month bedding-in period - absolutely ridiculous they haven't bottomed out Chiltern problems already even if still wrestling with WDC.

The contract gives Serco a 12 month bedding-in period - absolutely ridiculous they haven't bottomed out Chiltern problems already even if still wrestling with WDC.pennperson

The contract gives Serco a 12 month bedding-in period - absolutely ridiculous they haven't bottomed out Chiltern problems already even if still wrestling with WDC.

Score: 2

legiopatrianostra
12:32pm Mon 20 Jan 14

u r joking wrote…

Serco are the most negative company the two councils could have picked wycombe had a good collection service prior to serco the workforce seems to be the same as it was before with veolia so what is the problem .the so called councillors involved should sort it out pronto

Don't forget, this is the same company which admitted to overcharging the prison service for tagging, despite many of those prisoners having been released or having died. Horrid company.

[quote][p][bold]u r joking[/bold] wrote:
Serco are the most negative company the two councils could have picked wycombe had a good collection service prior to serco the workforce seems to be the same as it was before with veolia so what is the problem .the so called councillors involved should sort it out pronto[/p][/quote]Don't forget, this is the same company which admitted to overcharging the prison service for tagging, despite many of those prisoners having been released or having died. Horrid company.legiopatrianostra

u r joking wrote…

Serco are the most negative company the two councils could have picked wycombe had a good collection service prior to serco the workforce seems to be the same as it was before with veolia so what is the problem .the so called councillors involved should sort it out pronto

Don't forget, this is the same company which admitted to overcharging the prison service for tagging, despite many of those prisoners having been released or having died. Horrid company.

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